PFC Chapter 4 Survival in Danger
Chapter 4 Survival in Danger
The night in Ziyang City was as cold as a sheet of iron.
In a local earth god temple in the east of the city, where incense had long since ceased to burn, the air was drafty from all sides.
"hiss--"
Zhao Changying had a dry wooden stick clenched tightly in his mouth, veins bulging on his forehead, and cold sweat that had just dripped down was blown into ice shards by the wind.
Lu Yan knelt beside the dusty offering table, examining Zhao Changying's left arm expressionlessly by the moonlight. It was a typical ulna fracture; if not treated properly, the hand would be useless.
He tore strips of cloth from the hem of his scholar's robe, found two flat pieces of wood, and skillfully repositioned, secured, and knotted them.
"Click".
With a crisp crack as the bones reset, Zhao Changying groaned and collapsed onto the haystack, his teeth marks deep in his mouth.
Lu Yan wiped the dust off his hands and turned to look at Fan Fu, who was huddled in the corner, trembling.
"Brother Fan," Lu Yan's voice was soft, yet chilling, "I've memorized the contents of the account books. From now on, you either follow me and gamble your way to immense wealth, or get out of here now and be dragged back by Fan Renfu to be burned alive."
Fan Fu shuddered and clung tightly to Lu Yan's sleeve: "Young Master Lu... I'll listen to you! Just don't make me go back..."
"Then shut up and listen."
Lu Yan stood up, walked to the entrance of the dilapidated temple, and looked through the crack at the brightly lit vermilion building in the west of the city—the Shanxi Merchants Guild Hall.
"Without money, we can't heal Changying's wounds; without money, this game is a dead end."
He touched the old jade pendant left by the original owner's father in his sleeve, a token given to him by Fan Yongdou when he was down on his luck. But Lu Yan knew that in this world, sentiment was a consumable, used up only once. To get five hundred taels, sentiment alone wasn't enough; he needed leverage.
"Changying, you stay here and keep an eye on Fan Fu. I'll be right back."
……
Half an hour later. In a side hall of the Shanxi Merchants' Guild Hall.
The underground heating was burning brightly, providing warmth and comfort, making it seem like a completely different world from the icy and snowy landscape outside.
Fan Yongdou was dressed in a dark purple-red silk robe with a dark pattern, casually twirling a string of sandalwood beads in his hand. He glanced at Lu Yan standing below the hall—his clothes were thin and even had some grass clippings on them. Although his back was ramrod straight, he exuded a sense of despondency and rottenness.
"Nephew Lu," Fan Yongdou said indifferently, without even ordering tea, "I'll let you in tonight because your dead father wrote a few pieces of calligraphy for me back then. But you ask to borrow five hundred taels... are you still dreaming?"
Five hundred taels. In this year of famine, that's enough to buy a whole street of shops in Ziyang County.
"Does Manager Fan think I'm begging?" Lu Yan remained calm, showing no anger at the other party's disdain.
"Isn't that right?" Fan Yongdou scoffed. "If it were just a matter of borrowing three or five taels to buy a coffin, I might have given it to you out of old friendship. Five hundred taels? How are you going to pay it back? With your scholar's degree, which you might not even be able to keep?"
"I know for sure that Manager Fan's goods are going to rot in his hands."
Lu Yan suddenly spoke, his tone as certain as if he were reading an audit report.
Fan Yongdou abruptly stopped spinning the beads in his hand, his eyes instantly sharpening: "What did you say?"
Lu Yan did not answer directly, but instead walked to the chair next to him and sat down, adopting a negotiating posture.
"Before I came here, I took a stroll around the mule and horse market at the city gate," Lu Yan said, holding up one finger. "In previous years at this time, a mule heading north would cost three taels of silver. But today, the market price has risen to seven taels, and there's no market for them. Manager Fan, are you worried about not being able to find large carts to transport your ten thousand shi of old grain stored in the warehouse to Liaodong?"
Fan Yongdou's eyes narrowed. This was a trade secret, but how could this poor scholar know it?
"I also went to the blacksmith's shop." Lu Yan held up a second finger. "The price of wrought iron on the market has dropped by 20%, but the price of saltpeter and sulfur on the black market has tripled. Even the wood ash in the kitchens has been bought up."
Lu Yan raised his head and looked directly at Fan Yongdou: "What this means, Manager Fan knows better than I do. The imperial court is frantically producing gunpowder, but there's no money to forge weapons and armor. What the front lines lack isn't iron, but something that can actually explode."
"What exactly are you trying to say?" Fan Yongdou's voice deepened as he finally looked directly at the young man before him.
"Manager Fan, you've made the wrong bet."
Lu Yan's voice was like a thunderclap, "You think there's going to be a big battle in Liaodong, so you're hoarding grain, hoping to make a fortune while the army is gathering. But you forgot to consider one thing—transportation capacity. The imperial court has conscripted almost all the laborers and livestock from Shandong and Beizhili. Your grain simply can't reach the front lines. By the time the ice thaws in the spring, that old grain will mold and rot in the warehouses."
Fan Yongdou's expression finally changed. This was precisely why he had been so anxious and unable to sleep these past few days!
"It seems my nephew has come prepared." Fan Yongdou waved away the servants and personally poured Lu Yan a cup of tea. "Then, in your opinion, what should be done?"
"Abandon transporting grain and switch to transporting 'intelligence'."
Lu Yan dipped his finger in tea and wrote the character "defeat" on the table.
"Within three months, Sarhu will surely be defeated. And defeated miserably."
"Insolence!" Fan Yongdou hissed. "Discussing national war? Are you out of your mind?"
"There are no outsiders here, we're only talking business." Lu Yan sneered. "The Ming army's inconsistent commands and split-and-joint attacks are a major taboo in military strategy. The Jurchens, on the other hand, are waiting in ambush and will surely defeat us one by one. Once the front lines collapse and millions of refugees from Liaodong and Shenyang flee south, the most valuable thing won't be grain, because the refugees won't be able to afford it."
Lu Yan stared at Fan Yongdou and said, word by word, "It's 'travel permit' and 'vehicle and boat'."
"In the event of defeat, wealthy households in Liaodong would be willing to exchange their entire fortune for a travel permit to enter the pass and a ship to cross the sea in order to escape."
"I don't want you to transport grain to Liaodong. I want you to withdraw all your transport capacity and concentrate it at the sea outlets of Dengzhou and Laizhou. Convert the ships into passenger ships and stockpile not grain, but blank government travel permits and transit points."
Fan Yongdou tapped his fingers lightly on the table, his breathing becoming rapid. This was an extremely crazy idea. If the Ming army won, he would lose everything; but if the Ming army really lost… it was practically robbery!
"Why should I believe you?" Fan Yongdou stared intently at Lu Yan. "Just based on your few guesses? This is a high-stakes gamble with your life and fortune."
"Just because of this."
Lu Yan took out the "contract of tribute" that Fan Renfu had given him from his pocket and slapped it on the table.
"Fan Renfu forced me to sign this. He embezzled military farm land and wanted me to take the fall. I just broke into his study tonight and obtained the actual accounts of his embezzlement of military farm land land."
Lu Yan leaned forward, a fierce glint in his eyes: "Tomorrow, I will stop the censor's sedan chair and file a complaint with the emperor. Once Fan Renfu falls, his tens of thousands of acres of fertile land, as well as the Ziyang County canal wharf under his control, will all be ownerless."
"Five hundred taels, consider it my start-up capital. I won't pay interest, but I promise you: after Fan Renfu falls from power, I will help you acquire those three canal wharves under his name."
Fan Yongdou gasped. He finally saw the true nature of the young man before him. This wasn't some poor, pedantic scholar; this was a wolf yet to be fully grown!
He used the Fan family's lives as a pledge of loyalty and the future dock as collateral to exchange for five hundred taels of silver. This was not just business; it was gambling with his life.
Fan Yongdou remained silent for a long time, the sandalwood beads in his hand spinning rapidly.
"Smack."
Fan Yongdou slammed the beaded string onto the table.
"There's cash on the counter, go get it yourself." Fan Yongdou stood up, looking at Lu Yan with a complicated expression. "Also, I've asked the kitchen to prepare roast chicken, strong liquor, and the best liniment for you. Everything's packed up and is at the gatehouse; take it with you when you leave."
At this point, Fan Yongdou paused, then tentatively said, "It's snowing heavily outside, how about I send a carriage to take you back..."
"No need," Lu Yan interrupted, raising his hand. "Manager Fan's car is too expensive and too conspicuous. I'm a fugitive now; it's safer for me to walk."
Lu Yan paused, his eyes flashing slightly, as if he were calculating the next move in the game.
"However, I do need a carriage. But not tonight, and not a horse-drawn carriage either."
Fan Yongdou was taken aback: "Then what do you want?"
"The day after tomorrow—that is, the morning the censors enter the city. Please ask Manager Fan to reserve a large cart for me in the back alley of this guild hall." Lu Yan's voice was very low. "Don't use a covered cart, use a flatbed cart. Fill it with coal ash or dry firewood, the dirtier the better, the more inconspicuous the better."
"That was the only cover we had to break through the Fan family's blockade and get close to the imperial censor's procession."
Fan Yongdou stared at Lu Yan for a long time, his surprise growing. This scholar had even planned out the retreat route and the vehicle for the assault?
"Okay." Fan Yongdou nodded in agreement. "The coal cart you need will be in the back alley early that morning."
Lu Yan stood up, cupped his hands in greeting, and remained calm and composed.
"Manager Fan, the profits from this investment will be greater than you imagine."
He picked up the offering contract on the table, turned around, and walked out of the warm pavilion.
A moment later, in the back alley of the Shanxi Merchants Guild Hall.
The wind and snow were still heavy, scraping against his face like knives. Lu Yan carried a heavy bundle on his back, filled with silver, medicine, and food.
He tightened his collar, and without pausing, trudged through the deep snow, heading quickly toward the dilapidated temple in the east of the city.
There, two brothers who had entrusted their lives to him were waiting for the life-saving medicine and food. As for the carriage and the escape route... those were things to be considered the day after tomorrow.
Behind him, Fan Yongdou stood at the second-floor window, watching the thin figure disappear into the wind and snow, and muttered to himself, "He even schemed against the coal truck that was trying to escape... He's ruthless... In this chaotic world, something extraordinary is about to emerge."